The scene around the Aurora Regional Fire Museum Saturday surely must have made some casual onlookers feel like a real catastrophe was at hand, but in reality it was all just for show.
Friday night, the Chicagoland Emergency Vehicle Show – the Midwest’s largest public emergency vehicle show with over 100 fire engines, police cars, ambulances, and emergency vehicles – came to town and rolled through North Aurora, Aurora, and Montgomery before ending up at the Aurora Regional Fire Museum, where the show continued from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Theresa Carney of Bartlett and her sons Connor, 6, and Neal, 4, knew full well what was going on.
“My husband volunteers to help the people that put on this show and last night, the kids got to ride in the fire truck during the parade,” Carney said Saturday. “To me, the appeal of all this for kids is the lights and the sirens.”
Saturday’s program included safety displays, children’s activities and a lot of demonstrations including pumping water out of the Fox River, a helicopter landing, a hostage rescue demonstration and a fire simulation which allowed kids to put out the pretend fire.
David Lewis, curator of the Aurora Regional Fire Museum, said the arrival of the emergency vehicles Friday night was a special event.
“The word I heard one of the city of Aurora’s public relations people use was ‘wowzies’ and the place here was rocking last night,” Lewis said Saturday. “We expect a lot of people will enjoy seeing the water pumped out of the river, but we’re also going to have a lot more going on.”
Shortly after 12:15 p.m. on Saturday, a crowd had gathered just north of New York Street near an empty lot where the medivac helicopter was scheduled to land. Onlookers were told to move back from a grassy knoll to the sidewalk but were still pelted with wind and grit as the helicopter approached from the east, circled over the parking lot, and then landed.
Pat and Gus Lopez of Montgomery came to watch the landing and said they learned about it accidentally earlier that morning while visiting the Aurora Farmers Market.
“We also saw the big flag flying in the street, and I’m one who always goes for things that are patriotic,” Pat said. “I grew up in Chicago and learned a lot there about fire and law enforcement and so we wanted to see this.”
Gus Lopez wondered if the vintage emergency vehicle show would include the old blue police cars he remembered from his days as a child.
“All you see now are the white ones,” he said. “I’m not sure how many people remember they used to be blue.”
Dale Marlow of Aurora and his wife Brandy came out to the event along with their three children Jack, 7, Brody, 3, and Aubrey, 2. Both Dale and his son Jack said they “liked the SWAT stuff” while Brandy noted that the kids thought “the firehouse was cool.”
“The kids want to go through it now for the third time,” Brandy said. “I think for them, this is all about the sirens and the lights and the fact they can go through these vehicles and learn facts about them. Most of the time, you see cars and trucks racing to get somewhere, so you never get to experience them like this.”
Chris Weaver’s family from Sugar Grove offered a unique perspective as Chris is a 12-year police officer, currently working as a liaison at an Aurora high school. His wife Jennifer said their two sons, Ethan, 10, and Logan, 8, regarded the event as “something fun for the whole family.”
“We enjoy the demonstrations that show how they protect people,” Jennifer said. “It’s good for people to know who the good guys that protect us are.”
Chris Weaver said that, despite being a policeman himself, the event was more than just another day of what may be ordinary in his line of work.
“I’m here to support my brothers and sisters in blue and red,” he said. “I grew up in a ‘cop’ family and it’s great to hang out with all this emergency equipment and have the kids see what it’s about.”
David Sharos is a freelance writer for The Beacon-News
